To them, the owners of Flinchbaugh's Orchard and Farm Market and self-described weather freaks, hail is more than just precipitation meteorologists on television compare to ping pong balls and dimes. In minutes, it can viciously cut through their precious crops, which hang preciously from carefully plotted trees across several hundred acres.

In fact, last Sunday, larger-sized hail hit Hellam Township about a half-mile away from the farm, Flinchbaugh said.

"If that type of hail hit here, it could have been 100 percent loss of our crop," he admitted.

Fortunately, smaller chunks rained down on the back-end of the farm, slightly damaging only a fraction of their fruits and vegetables.

The Flinchbaugh family, which has owned the orchard for four generations, was able to continue its daily peach-picking routine.

And despite a forecast of scattered showers, Mother Nature cut them a break Saturday for the farm's annual Summer Fest.

Keene said she started the event eight years ago as a gesture to the community for supporting their newly opened market. Over the years, the event has evolved into more of a festival with corn mazes and pie-making contests. And there is also an educational side of the festival.

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"One of our main goals is to educate people about agriculture," Flinchbaugh said. "The festival lets people have fun, but we also want people to learn about where their food comes from and how we grow our own food."

The process of harvesting fruits and vegetables is a year-round ordeal and one that is filled with many uncontrollable factors such as bad weather and insects.

Mary Rutherford took first place for her Peachy Bars during a baking contest at Flinchbaugh's Orchard and Farm Market Summer Fest in Hellam Township. (Paul Kuehnel — Daily Record/Sunday News)

For the last three years, Flinchbaugh said, the farm has battled stink bugs, which will feed on peaches and leave them disfigured. There are also the oriental fruit moths and coddling moths, pests that have been around long enough that the Flinchbaugh's know how to handle them.

And of course, there is the East Coast's relentless humidity. Flinchbaugh admitted it would be much easier to grow on the West Coast in its dry climate.

"You try to manage as much as you can, but there's always that weather factor," he said.

Last Sunday's hail storm came a few weeks after the start of this season, which got underway about 10 days late. The late start, which was the result of below normal temperatures, did not hurt this year's crop.

"As a general rule, since last fall, temperatures have been below average," Flinchbaugh said. "It's been the latest bloom we've had in the last six years. But we're expecting a full crop."

As of this week, Flinchbaugh said the farm is in the climax of harvesting peaches.

Flinchbaugh rolled a piece of his prized fruit in his hand. A small imperfection marked the side where it was hit by hail.